The America's Cup defenders are straining the nerves of the sailing world. Once again, a deadline has passed without any news worth mentioning in the preparations for the 35th edition of the world's most famous regatta. The deadline for submitting challenges expired on 8 August. However, apart from Emirates Team New Zealand, which went public on its own initiative, the Cup teams and the US defenders are still keeping a low profile. The Americans do not want to have worked through the submitted challenges with the respective teams until 20 August. The challengers for the 35th edition of the Cup will then be presented in London on 9 September - almost a year after the Americans won the 34th America's Cup on 25 September 2013.
So the motto of the past few months remains: The wait goes on! The defenders have not even revealed the number of challengers. The venue for the 35th edition of the Cup has still not been finalised. The decision should be made by the end of the year between San Diego and Bermuda. San Diego has already hosted the America's Cup three times in 1988, 1992 and 1995. From a European perspective, Bermuda would be geographically more favourable, four hours closer to European television times and is considered a tax haven. However, as a British Overseas Territory, the archipelago is under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, which in turn does not go down well with American Cup fans, who demand a defence of the "Auld Mug" in a US territory.
While the type of boat has been finalised with the AC 62 catamarans, the exact definition of the format for the challenger round and qualification for the Cup duel is still a long way off. Given the many unknowns in the game, this cannot be otherwise, as the format depends on the number of challengers. If the number of challengers even drops below four, a completely new format will have to be devised.
So far, experts are reckoning with a maximum of five contenders, with Sir Ben Ainslie's potent British team leading the way. The head of his Ben Ainslie Racing syndicate, who is highly decorated with four Olympic gold medals, has been able to report some progress in the search for partners in recent weeks. The fact that the press conference of the Cup defenders is to take place in London rather than in their home country of America is a strong signal in the direction of the British challengers from the legendary British sailing club, the Royal Yacht Squadron.
Of the four potential European and one New Zealand challenger, Luna Rossa from Italy is currently considered the hottest candidate to succeed the Australian Challenger of Record, who has been eliminated. The Cup-experienced Italians around "Mr Prada" Patrizio Bertelli could take on the role of negotiator for the challengers. But even this decision, which according to the Cup statutes must have been made long ago because the role of "Challenger of Record" is awarded in the order of the challenges received, remains secret for the time being.
What is not secret at all is the fact that Team New Zealand wants to reach for the ornate silver jug again after the bitter defeat. On Friday, team boss Grant Dalton said: "For us, the announcement of our challenge is the official start of a long and tough journey." By going public, the Kiwis have somewhat duped the Americans, who would certainly have liked to introduce their challengers themselves. And the New Zealanders' advance can certainly be seen as a small act of revenge for their exclusion from the talks between defenders and potential challengers just a few weeks ago. The role of the black sheep in the Cup carousel has thus been taken over by Team New Zealand for the time being. Presumably with some pleasure.
According to insiders, the French team France has also submitted its challenge, as has the Swedish team Artemis. It remains to be hoped that the defenders can finally turn the many question marks into a few exclamation marks in September, for which they are apparently still lacking sufficient good news.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
